Editor’s Note: Who is brave enough to make a shark movie with Jaws still considered the all-time champ? Freeline Media critic Mike Fried puts the bite into his review of The Meg and it’s sharkesque adventures! Read on!
By Mike Fried
THE MEG
4/5
I was one of those very lucky folks that got to see this movie on the big screen and it has been a favorite ever since.
Jonas Taylor is a renowned deep sea explorer and rescuer who had a mission go bad and it caused men to die. What he saw that day was something large attacking the ship. The Medical Officer disputed this and blamed the entire incident on Taylor, who retired and is now living in Thailand drinking and listening to his favorite music in the local language (songs like “Mickey”). Meanwhile, a deep sea platform exploring the depths of the ocean called Mana-One. Exploring below the thermocline, a deep sea sub is attacked and trapped by a large unknown creature. The pilot is Jonas’ ex-wife so he is asked to aid in the rescue — over the objections of the same medical officer. Jonas saves his Ex and one other crew member and one sacrifices himself. It is determined that the large creature was a Megalodon — the Meg — that has now escaped the thermocline and threatens local communities.
This is nothing more than an old fashioned 1950s B-movie creature feature with homages to Jaws but with considerably better special effects.
Jon Turteltaub is one of those directors who have been shat upon by the critics time and time again. Whether it was National Treasure, Disney’s The Kid, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Last Vegas, National Treasure 2 and this film, the films have been derided by the critics but have received accolades by the audience-centric Cinemascore, with score no lower than a B+. His films are crowd-pleasers and that’s all that matters. This movie received a B+.
Why the negativity?
Because people think that movies that are pure dumb fun are just dumb — and that’s total horseshit. A movie is supposed to entertain and this one does it in spades. In addition, the film has absolutely zero pretensions about being a Jaws ripoff; in fact, it revels in it.
And it gives Jason Statham a chance to shine which he does best when he doesn’t take himself too seriously. And here he does not. Oh sure he does the serious faced thing and he’s not as zany as in the Crank movies but he’s not as serious as he is in The Beekeeper. He’s in that in-between that is his sweet spot. But he’s does well as the damaged guy who leaves people behind, which happens again.
And the filmmakers have a great time with it. First off, the title creature is not shown until a quarter of a way through the film. Second, the Jaws ripoffs are hysterical, whether it’s the crowded beach or the little dog being named Pipit, like the dog in Jaws. Third, it becomes evident that the rich guy funding the Mana-one sees dollar signs because of the Megalodon. In this way, it homages another Spielberg film, The Lost World.
And the supporting cast is terrific. Cliff Curtis as the Mana-one manager of operations is terrifically tongue in cheek. Robert Taylor as the chief medical officer who has a past with Jonas is equally good. Bingbing Li and Winston Chao are the daughter and father who run Mana-one. And Rainn Wilson plays the Dwight Schrute of billionaires who is funding the station.
In a cleverly designed scene, the ten year old daughter of Bingbing Li is walking around a section of the underwater walkway, The Meg slowly swims up behind her, filling the screen before it opens its massive jaws to bite the viewing port. It’s a well done scene.
Admittedly, the dialogue is preposterous but in its preposterousness it is hilarious. And it’s never funnier than when DJ, the computer expert (played well by Page Kennedy) delivers the lines, almost like an exposition “But not before a massive prehistoric killing machine decided to come up and say ‘Hi.’”
But the stunt work and the action sequences are what sets the movie apart. They are well executed, exciting and they are fun. Obviously done on a water tank sound stage it actually looks like the crew is in the middle of the ocean. The kills are well done and exciting.
It’s total fun.
WATCH IT!
MEG 2: THE TRENCH
3/5
To be honest, I don’t know why this movie was made. Well, I do. It’s because the first movie made a butt-ton of money. I just wish that the story was more thought out to provide a better story.
Jonas Taylor is back and he is fighting environmental crimes. He is reeling from the death of his wife, Suyin (played by Bingbing Li in the first film and who chose not to appear so they killed her off) and has been raising her daughter Meiying along with Suyin’s brother Jiuming. Mana-one is still operating and there is a female Meg, found as a pup, in captivity that is being studied. Jonas and Jiuming do a submersible exploration but the female Meg escaped the night before and she chases them down through the thermocline where there are two other much larger, male Megalodons — and it’s mating season. They discover an underwater mining colony that had been digging for rare earth minerals and the mercenary in charge has a grudge against Jonas. The team is trapped underwater.
And this is where the movie jumps the shark (ha ha.) The breach in the thermocline releases not only these two bad ass male Megs but also a giant octopus and a bunch of lizard like creatures that follow Jonas’ team to a nearby resort called Fun Island (really?). From that point the movie turns into a Jurassic Park/World clone where the Megs, the Octopus and the lizards attack the park goers.
The problem with this movie is that until the final 45 minutes it’s a really dull film filled with cheesy special effects that seem to be a devolution from the effects of the first film. Surprisingly, the budget for the sequel was roughly the same as that of the original which is different in that most sequels have increased budgets. Nevertheless the action sequences when done well are really done well. The staging is a lot of fun, especially with the escape from the underwater mining colony. The shot of the Meg eating swimmers with a POV from inside the Meg’s mouth was particularly funny.
But what Jason Statham made in increased salary was obviously taken out of the effects budget. And the screenwriters didn’t even care about plot holes, physics, wooden dialogue or anything like that. It’s like the scrabble version of making movies.
Director Ben Wheatley really does not have command of his material but gives it the old college try. He’s directed good movies in the past including Free Fire and Sightseers. But you can’t build the Empire State Building with adobe and that’s what he was given. There is a ridiculous subplot pairing the terrorists with Mana-one’s new billionaire benefactor and it results in scenes with Page Kennedy, returning as DJ, as a Rambo-like (or Billy Rosewood Beverly Hills Cop II-like) weapons expert who has finally learned to swim.
Somebody says early on: “This is some dumbass shit right here.” I couldn’t agree more. But, the last 45 minutes resurrect the enjoyment that should have been present in the first 70 minutes of the film and deliver some nicely executed campy thrills.
Like a fungus, it grows on you. But it’s a pale shade of the original.
UP TO YOU – no hard recommendations either way.
See ya later, Chum.
Michael Fried has no formal training in movies, except having watched over 26,000+ movies — if not more — in his 60-plus years on this planet, starting with Goldfinger as his first cinema experience. He knows what he likes and he knows what he doesn’t like, and it’s quite often different from the conventional wisdom. He knows that the best franchise is Godzilla and he loves action movies and comedies. He has not been nominated for any awards except some boring insurance awards which has no applicability to movies (with the possible exceptions of Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity and John Cassavettes’ Big Trouble). He is part of a team that won the 1980 SUNY Albany Trivia content by correctly guessing the question, “Who played the president of Klopstockia in Million Dollar Legs?” So he has that going for him, which is nice.
Contact Mike at moviemike3@gmail.com
